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16. Intelligent
nanomaterials against antibiotic resistant bacteria

Supervisor Pair: George Pasparakis
and Sean Nair
Potential Student’s Home
Department: School of Pharmacy, Department of
Pharmaceutics

The simultaneous decelerating rate of new
antibiotic discovery and the alarming rise in antibiotic resistance of
pathogenic bacteria pose a serious threat to life and a tremendous pressure on
developed countries and developing economies. The utilization of novel
nanomedicinal based approaches could constitute an alternative powerful
strategy for the development of “universal” therapeutic modalities to combat
infectious diseases. In this context, the proposed project will focus on the
development of new antimicrobial nanoparticulate constructs which will be
tested against antibiotic resistant bacterial strains. Hybrid metallic/polymer
nanoparticles (NPs) will be synthesized and characterized by conventional
physicochemical methods. The proposed NPs will mediate receptor-specific
recognition/capturing of the pathogen via multivalent ligand-receptor
interactions. Exogenous activation of the NPs by external stimuli (i.e. light,
magnetic fields, etc.) will also be exploited as a means to spatiotemporally
confine the activity of the nanoparticles. Ultimately, these novel
nanomaterials will serve as a means to detect, capture, and deactivate bacterial
species of nosocomial significance including Staphylococcus aureus, Pseudomonas
aeruginosa and Escherichia coli. Due to the multidisciplinary nature of the
project, training in a range of diverse techniques will be provided, including,
synthesis and characterization of metallic nanoparticles, polymers and
polymerization reactions, as well as, bacterial cell culture and handling. The
project will constitute an excellent research training hub as it will
capitalize on the supervisors’ expertise in diverse but complementary areas
such as materials sciences, and bacterial microbiology. Finally, the successful
PhD candidate will benefit from the excellent research facilities in the UCL
School of Pharmacy and the UCL Eastman Dental Institute.